Lisboa Palace opening could be postponed

Sanford Bernstein said that it is very unlikely that the operator will be able to stick to its plan to open the casino resort in H2 2018.

Macau.- Brokerage Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd said in a note that it is unlikely that the upcoming Macau casino Grand Lisboa Palace will open during the second half of next year, as the chief executive of SJM Holdings Ltd said recently.

During the first week of the month, Ambrose So Shu Fai, chief executive of SJM Holdings Ltd, revealed that according to the company’s expectations, the opening was scheduled for the second half of 2018. The casino had to stop its construction process in June due to a fatal accident that happened to one of the workers. The Labour Affairs Bureau informed that it issued a suspension order to the contractor, in order to protect the safety of other workers, which lasted for more than a month. The authorities ordered the contractor to fully implement effective measures that would improve occupational safety of all workers. Despite the halt that made the company lose seven to eight weeks, the CEO believes that the construction programme could still be readjusted.

Nevertheless, Sanford Bernstein expects Grand Lisboa Palace to launch operations in early 2019, as GGRAsia reported. “While the company is still sticking to its second-half 2018 opening, we view this as very unlikely. Based on our research, we estimate that the property will not open until early 2019 and adjust our model to reflect this view,” said analysts Vitaly Umansky and Zhen Gong.